Language, nation and congregation : world-system and world-polity perspectives on language integration in South African churches

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study is a theoretical excursus in the political sociology of language which discusses how featuresof the world-polity and world-economy intersect in such a way within the current world system as toaffect linguistic practices in the religious domain in South Africa. Language practice in congregationsprovide the empirical data for this discussion. Data was collected through a survey of 60 raciallyintegrated and multilingual Christian congregations from nine denominations across South Africa.Levels of linguistic and racial integration were measured according to an integration index, whichshows that racial integration of these congregations is far more advanced than linguistic integration.The dominance of English over indigenous languages became evident in all cases. This pattern isinterpreted in terms of global institutional factors which support the dominance of English. The theoryof John Meyer, John Boli, and colleagues forms the central analytical framework, in which globalnorms are perceived to create isomorphism across nation-states. These insights are combined withothers from world-economy and globalization theories. Accordingly, formal and popular, global andlocal ideologies are seen to articulate with one other, so contributing to cultural and structuralisomorphism across state and civil institutions. In particular I suggest that a language ideology whichfavours English operates among elites as well as among the general populace. Consequently Englishis regarded, globally as locally, as a language of access to employment, commerce and status. For thisreason isomorphism between linguistic practices which devalues indigenous languages is visiblebetween South Africa and other African nation-states. A similar isomorphism between linguisticideology and practices also occurs between institutions within South Africa.The emerging hegemony of English in South Africa is connected to similar processes operatingelsewhere, and so can be linked to features of the world system. The diffusion of core cultures, whichaccompanied the expansion of the world-economy, continues to occur through the adoption of globalmass education and religious institutions by non-core states. Along with the dispersement of theWestern model of the nation-state came the increasing importance of having a constitution asfoundation stone. Language rights were instituted in constitutions as part of the globalization of humanrights, as happened in South Africa. Compared to the previous constitution, the latter reflects theincreasing integration of South Africa into the world polity and its global norms of equality.As globalization produces heterogeneity and homogeneity, the dominant trend towards linguistichomogeneity (English) is countered by a weaker option for inclusion of multilingualism (e.g. throughaccommodation of indigenous languages). In Africa this produces African-Western individuals, lendingsome support to the notion that globalization produces hybridization.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University